Notice to former FCH customers
May 01, 2023
TO: Customers formerly served by Farmers Cooperative of Hanska
As you may know, Central Region Cooperative’s purchase of Farmers Cooperative of Hanska’s agronomy, grain and energy assets has been completed. We are pleased to welcome you to CRC and we look forward to working with you!
I want to update you on developments related to the grain assets we purchased from Farmers Cooperative of Hanska. As you may know, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service suspended the license to receive and store grain at Hanska on March 31 and closed the facility. As a result of the license suspension, grain operations at Hanska, Hilltop and Burdick are currently closed. When USDA officials and our insurance provider inspected the facilities, they identified significant deficiencies in safety and compliance that make them unsafe to operate as commercial facilities and prevent us from being able to insure them in totality, without significant investment. As a result, we are not reopening these facilities for commercial receiving and storage. Diligence will continue to be done on options for the Burdick facility in the coming months. CRC is continuing to conduct meetings with other commercial operators around the viability of the facility.
We realize these changes may be an inconvenience for some customers, though the purchase of Farmers Cooperative of Hanska assets by CRC directly prevented patron owned grain, prepay and deferred payments of over $13 million from being potentially seized in foreclosure. CRC assisted FCH financially to continue business operations prior to closure including feed, agronomy, and energy deliveries. CRC is committed to working with you to find solutions that meet your needs. In addition to CRC’s receiving facilities in Buffalo Lake, Cobden, Cosmos, Fairfax, Gibbon, Hector and Sleepy Eye, we offer year-round on-farm grain pickup including in your fields at harvest. We also offer a grain cart or grain hopper trailer financing program along with crop inputs financing and a full range of grain contracts. The grain cart or a grain hopper program allows patrons to purchase equipment through CRC, CRC will finance equipment, lease equipment back to farmers crediting farmers back based on bushels hauled to CRC (call Sleepy Eye office for information).
If you previously had agronomy or energy prepayments with Farmers Cooperative of Hanska, your prepay balances/accounts receivable have been transferred to CRC. We have also assumed farmers hedge to arrive, priced grain contracts and Heartland Corn Products swaps that you would have previously delivered to Hanska.
Many of the Hanska employees you’ve worked with in the past have joined our team and are eager to continue serving you. At CRC, our goal is to provide you with high-quality products, services, technology, innovation and people, along with modern and efficient assets. We are also excited to introduce new products and services to you.
Be sure to check out our website for more information about our cooperative - www.centralregioncoop.com. We are pleased to announce we have opened an administrative office at the Hanska location and we invite you to stop in or give us a call. We look forward to serving you in your hometown community.
As planting season kicks offs, our dedicated and experienced employee team is ready and eager to serve you. We value your business and wish you a safe and successful spring.
Sincerely,
Nate Gieseke & Central Region Cooperative Board of Directors
As you may know, Central Region Cooperative’s purchase of Farmers Cooperative of Hanska’s agronomy, grain and energy assets has been completed. We are pleased to welcome you to CRC and we look forward to working with you!
I want to update you on developments related to the grain assets we purchased from Farmers Cooperative of Hanska. As you may know, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service suspended the license to receive and store grain at Hanska on March 31 and closed the facility. As a result of the license suspension, grain operations at Hanska, Hilltop and Burdick are currently closed. When USDA officials and our insurance provider inspected the facilities, they identified significant deficiencies in safety and compliance that make them unsafe to operate as commercial facilities and prevent us from being able to insure them in totality, without significant investment. As a result, we are not reopening these facilities for commercial receiving and storage. Diligence will continue to be done on options for the Burdick facility in the coming months. CRC is continuing to conduct meetings with other commercial operators around the viability of the facility.
We realize these changes may be an inconvenience for some customers, though the purchase of Farmers Cooperative of Hanska assets by CRC directly prevented patron owned grain, prepay and deferred payments of over $13 million from being potentially seized in foreclosure. CRC assisted FCH financially to continue business operations prior to closure including feed, agronomy, and energy deliveries. CRC is committed to working with you to find solutions that meet your needs. In addition to CRC’s receiving facilities in Buffalo Lake, Cobden, Cosmos, Fairfax, Gibbon, Hector and Sleepy Eye, we offer year-round on-farm grain pickup including in your fields at harvest. We also offer a grain cart or grain hopper trailer financing program along with crop inputs financing and a full range of grain contracts. The grain cart or a grain hopper program allows patrons to purchase equipment through CRC, CRC will finance equipment, lease equipment back to farmers crediting farmers back based on bushels hauled to CRC (call Sleepy Eye office for information).
If you previously had agronomy or energy prepayments with Farmers Cooperative of Hanska, your prepay balances/accounts receivable have been transferred to CRC. We have also assumed farmers hedge to arrive, priced grain contracts and Heartland Corn Products swaps that you would have previously delivered to Hanska.
Many of the Hanska employees you’ve worked with in the past have joined our team and are eager to continue serving you. At CRC, our goal is to provide you with high-quality products, services, technology, innovation and people, along with modern and efficient assets. We are also excited to introduce new products and services to you.
Be sure to check out our website for more information about our cooperative - www.centralregioncoop.com. We are pleased to announce we have opened an administrative office at the Hanska location and we invite you to stop in or give us a call. We look forward to serving you in your hometown community.
As planting season kicks offs, our dedicated and experienced employee team is ready and eager to serve you. We value your business and wish you a safe and successful spring.
Sincerely,
Nate Gieseke & Central Region Cooperative Board of Directors